The owner of a local taxi company insists one of his taxis was not sent to The Fuzzy Duck to collect the woman killed Sunday by a passing train.

Statements made by Bob Cleary, owner of Sureway Taxi Company, refute statements made earlier in the week by Barry Adkins, who owns The Fuzzy Duck, regarding the final hours for Charlene Ash, who was struck and

killed by a Norfolk Southern train early Sunday morning near the Jefferson Street crossing in Ironton.

Adkins said two of his employees called a cab for Ash when she left his establishment, but that the call was not logged by the taxi driver and the driver did not show up for work the next day. Cleary said Adkins’ version of the story was not correct.

“Our records do not reflect there was a cab at the scene at that time,” Cleary said. “Our records don’t reflect a call coming from there at the time in question.”

Cleary said the driver in question was not scheduled to work the next day so there was no reason for him to show up for work.

“We make every effort to provide secure, safe transportation to those who need it,” Cleary said.

Meanwhile, Ironton police detective, Capt. Chris Bowman, said the work to piece together what happened to Ash continues.

“We should be done with the investigation as soon as we get blood work results and some additional interviews,” Bowman said.

Ash was spotted lying on the tracks by railroad employees, who told police they blew the horn and it appeared Ash was trying to get out of the way of the train but couldn’t.